1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for increasing occupant protection in a motor vehicle during a lateral impact, in which the energy input acts laterally on a door region of the motor vehicle, with a motor vehicle seat being situated on the side of the motor vehicle door facing away from the energy input wherein the motor vehicle door is provided with interior door lining facing the motor vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Motor vehicle accidents in which uncontrolled, collision-based energy input acts by way of lateral impact on a motor vehicle door usually result in considerable injury to the occupants of the motor vehicle wherein in particular the occupants situated closest to the motor vehicle door are exposed to the lateral impact. The reason for this is the limited deformation path available for the energy of the crash acting on the motor vehicle door and the relatively limited energy absorption capacity of the lateral structure of a motor vehicle.
For reducing the risk of injury in lateral impact scenarios, there are numerous state-of-the-art proposals to increase the rigidity of the motor vehicle door in transverse direction of the vehicle with the aid of lateral-impact beam systems for stabilizing the motor vehicle door, such as described in DE AS 22 15 674, DE 41 25 299 C2 and DE 198 28 444 A1.
Representative of such systems with lateral impact protection reference is made to DE 103 41 329 A1, which describes a lateral impact protection system whose lateral impact beam running through the motor vehicle door is activatable by the energy input stemming from the collision independent of the form of energy. The lateral impact beam enters an active connection with the chassis areas surrounding the motor vehicle door. A transducer material is used to activate the lateral impact beam which permits the operation of the lateral impact beam to be reversible and, in particular, to activate the lateral impact beam at selected times.
Although development of the prior-art lateral impact protection systems permits better absorption of the crash-energy input directed at the motor vehicle door better and to convey the crash energy to more rigid areas of the chassis, these lateral impact protection systems are nonetheless unable to protect against uncontrolled crash-produced inherent movements of a person sitting on a motor vehicle seat. Rather airbag systems are employed, which pop open inside the motor vehicle interior following a collision and act as an impact cushion for the person. In particular, airbag systems integrated in and along the interior lining of the door offer resilient buffering protection between the interior door lining and the person situated on the motor vehicle seat. Airbag systems, however, can only be used in an as such known manner once and possess resilient buffering protective properties only if they are maximumly full.
A proposal is described in the subsequently published DE 103 51 752 A1, whose date of disclosure is after the priority date claimed of the filing of the present invention goes one step further regarding reducing the danger of injury for motor vehicle occupants in lateral impact accidents. In this case the protection system provides at least one cushion element which is disposed laterally on the motor vehicle adjacent to the occupant position and is movable from a rest state into an extended state in the direction of the occupant position by an activation device. The activation device is driven by a vehicle drive. Extrusion of the cushion element occurs with an electric motor using a spring memory or by a pyrotechnical element.